Pleas of tourism stakeholders in the State to relax curbs on late night sale of liquor fell on deaf ears, but surprisingly the government has given concessions only to five privileged outlets in North Goa. Nightclubs that found favour were Tito’s, Capetown Café, LPK Waterfront, Cocktails & Dreams and SinQ. Why was this selective bias? Can there be a special law for only five nightclubs? If there was even a remote possibility of relaxing timings, why did the government not think about the larger interest of State tourism?
Tourism this year has hit a rough patch with the season not going on expected lines. There was a drop in charter tourism and so was there a decline of tourists. The government is well aware of the grim situation that prevailed and was even forced to extend an invitation to Sunburn despite being defaulters on tax payments of earlier festivals. The scene was so bad that for the first time the government tried to showcase Carnival to woo tourists. Against such a backdrop, it is baffling why the government did not consider the demands of the tourism industry to relax liquor restrictions and instead preferred to consider a request of a select five outlets.
Unlike other states, a sizeable chunk of Goa’s tourists are lured to the free flow of alcohol in the State. Cut the booze and party life out and the equation will obviously change. The government should have factored in the ground realities. Also, the restrictions came as a cruel blow to the hospitality industry and the casinos which have paid lakhs of rupees for availing a special licence to serve alcohol beyond 11 pm. It meant that they have missed out on business at a time when tourism is at its last leg of the season, despite paying for it.
If late hours are used to influence voters, then there are more worrisome trends that have gone unnoticed. Candidates have blatantly gone on a money-distributing spree, besides the free flow of goodies. These have a direct bearing on the elections and the enforcement machinery should be dealing with such undemocratic practices with an iron hand.
By proposing relaxations to a select five, the government has only indicated that it is playing to the lobbies of the high and mighty. Where is the aam Goemkar entrepreneur in the scheme of things? This Goemkar has painstakingly struggled with his business during this long ban period and religiously shut shop as directed, does anyone care for him? Or they simply didn’t have that kind of moolah to speak for them? The government has set a bad precedent in making this exception.
